African dishes

Starting at a very young age, mothers teach and prepare girls to be suitable partners in marriage. A woman who doesn’t know how to cook must realise that she is heading for trouble if she marries, because in African tradition, a woman who can’t cook is considered a worthless fellow.

Jollof rice, with fried red plantain, green leaves and sliced meat.

Whether it is customary marriage or whatever, the man has right to send back his wife to her parents. This sounds strange or even cruel, as it doesn’t exists anywhere in a Whitman’s country, yet it is normal in Africa. A disgraced woman who doesn’t know how to cook, story spreads quickly like a bush fire, affecting both her mother and father, because they lacked the knowledge to give their daughter a good training.

Fried red plantain, fish and vegetables.

Interestingly, African women cook without cook book, because from generations women are thought how to cook without one. An African woman knows her ingredients for every meal which she wants to prepare. In the rural areas, it is very common to see women slicing onions in their bare palm, without a cut, a skill many dare to try. (I don’t think they would be interested if given a cutting board).

A typical Ghanaian dish of Fufu and palm-nut soup, being tasted by a white lady.

However; the influence of European and American culture in Africa, has enrolled many Africans in cooking schools to learn how to cook European dishes. In Hotels and restaurants, well prepared European dishes by African chefs, are daily served. It is amazing to see Europeans enjoying African foods, including Kenkey.(A Ghanaian food prepared from corn)

There are delicious plates all over Africa, which without a taste you will never know. My favorite European dish is buttered mushed potato puree, with baked beans and steak, I would like to know which African meal you would like to eat, so that I can prepare for you, because I am a very good cook.